


Lay Up, Stay Up

by kkslover9



Category: First Fantasy (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-10 21:39:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7862125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kkslover9/pseuds/kkslover9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An explosion leaves Tam and Nura stranded in a strange place where they share chores and each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lay Up, Stay Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SkiesOverTokyo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkiesOverTokyo/gifts).



> This is fanfiction written for the lovely SkiesOverTokyo's webcomic, "First Fantasy."
> 
> You can read the webcomic at: http://first-fantasy.smackjeeves.com/

Nura remembers facing off against Tam, both of them poised to attack. Then he remembers heat and debris and being slammed into the wall of the tunnel then the memory ends. 

His head is pounding when he wakes up. At least he’s not dead, he thinks. He opens his eyes slowly, blinking against the sunlight streaming through a smalll window. He sits up slowly, cursing in his mind as his body creaks in complaint at his movement. The room is small and bare. There are two beds: he occupies one and the other is empty but rumpled from being slept in. A small table sits between them. He takes a moment to look down at himself. The bandages on his arms and legs and chest show that the reason for his body’s reluctance to move. Dark bruises show through the bandages. He frowns. He's become fairly good at ignoring and suffering pain, but he's still aware that everything hurts. 

With some determination, he manages to stand, supported by a bedpost. The size of the room works in his favour and he’s able to transfer himself to the wall nearest the door so he can exit the room. 

The door leads to a kitchen. He takes in the room quickly, the fire against the back wall, the counters stacked with vegetables and herbs, the two additional doors, one open and leading to stairs, and the table in the centre of the room with two people sitting at it looking at him. One of them is Tam. He's peeling potatoes but looks up and actually smiles at Nura. Nura ignores him and looks to the woman knitting across from him. She's dark as night with hair even darker curling down the sides of her face until they hit her shoulders. She turns to him eyes closed, lids sunken. Nura takes a reflexive gulp as he realises there are no eyes in those sockets. 

“Come and sit,” she says gesturing to the empty chair at the table. 

Her voice is slow and deep like a rumbling of warm earth and Nura can't help but follow her instruction. He glances at Tam as he takes a seat. He's gone back to peeling his potatoes so focused and determined to overcome them that it surprises Nura. 

“Nura.”

He starts when he hears his name come from the woman's lips but calms when he realises that Tam must have told her.

She pushes a bowl of carrots over to him along with a knife. “Scrape these.”

Nura takes up the knife. With it in his hand, he thinks about his chances in this state against the other occupants of the room. There are a few bandages across Tam’s arms but they are nowhere as extensive as his own. The chances of overpowering him are not in his favour. Not to mention he has no idea who is woman is and whether there are others outside who he would have to contend with. He picks up a carrot and drags the blade across its surface. 

“Where are we?” It would be wise to figure out location before he began planning any escapes. Though, he is still alive and it seems anyone would have had ample time to dispose of him as he slept so he can’t be in much immediate danger.

“Crystal Valley,” she says. 

Tam seems to take that as license to speak and dives into an explanation. “Crystal because the waters and clear.”

The woman nods. 

“Thank you,” he says hesitantly, “for taking care of my wounds.”

She chuckles. “It is not free. You will work until I deem your debt repaid.”

Nura frowns. 

The woman laughs as though she can see him and tell that he’s thinking about how she’s going to stop him from leaving. “The wonderful thing about this valley is that I am the only one that can let you in or out.”

“It’s not so bad,” Tam says. 

Nura shifts his gaze over to him.

“You’ve been asleep for three days, even with Gracemary’s healing magic. I was lucky because I was able to throw up a bit of a shield when the explosion happened so I wasn’t as badly injured.”

Nura looks over to the woman; now he knows she is Gracemary. She continues her knitting but offered no additions to Tam’s story. She has to be quite a powerful white mage to right him after an explosion where he should realistically be dead. 

Nura weighs his options for his next question. “How did we get here?”

“I found you,” Gracemary says.

Nura looks at Tam as he seems to have all the explanations to Gracemary’s vague answers.

“Apparently Gracemary made us fall through the mountain somehow and we ended up in the valley. I’m a bit funny on that part myself to be honest.” Tam shrugs. “But we’re alive so who are we to complain.”

“I actually have my people to get back to. Those who are counting on me to lead them.”

Tam stops peeling and he stares at Nura stonily. “I have people counting on me too, you know. Syl who’s probably thinking I’m dead. And Iodice. People. Just because we’re not all some fancy lord doesn’t mean we don’t have people waiting for us.”

The room goes quiet other than the scrap of the next carrot Nura picks up trying to ignore the fact that Tam’s outburst has ruffled him. At the sudden sound of the door, he stills, grip tightening around the knife.

“You’ll leave when Gracemary says your debt has been repaid.” The voice is gruff and deeply male. The man that walks in is tall, taller than Nura would be even on his tip toes so he has to bend under the doorframe and he’s equally as wide, built sturdy as a bull. His dark blond hair hanging down to his waist is greying. He’s pale as a ghost with ice blue eyes. He wears a knit top much like what Gracemary seemed to be working on right then.

“Ard!” Tam smiles coming out of his previous mood.

“Angharad but Gracemary calls me Ard.” The man extends a large hand out to Nura.

Hesitantly, Nura grasps it. The clasp of hands is tight as though Ard is testing him and Nura gives him his best sword grip. Satisfied, Ard laughs and drops his hand giving Nura a slap on the shoulder.

“Good man,” he says moving around the table to ruffle Tam’s hair and kiss Gracemary on the cheek. 

Light footsteps come down the stairs and a slight man emerges. Nura could probably break him barehanded even now as bruised as he was. The man runs his hand through wavy short cropped black hair. His skin is dark as Gracemary’s but his features are sharp where hers are rounded. He looks at Ard but his attention quickly moves to Nura.

“You’re awake then,” he says in a voice like velvet. It’s the kind of voice that would lure an animal to its own slaughter.

Nura can’t help but think about how odd these three people are.

Ard crosses the room in large, quick strides and pulls the man in for a sloppy kiss. Nura reflexively averts his gaze only to find Tam grinning at him from the other side. He rolls his eyes.

“This is Chetan,” Ard says. 

Nura returns his attention to the pair to see Chetan slip neatly from under Ard’s arm around his shoulders. 

“I’ll go check the traps,” Chetan says before he leaves without so much as another glance Nura’s way.

“They’re not much by the way of talk so I tend to do most of that myself,” Ard says with a laugh.

Gracemary stands, giving Ard her seat and her knitting then moves over to hang a pot over the fire. Ard deftly picks up where she left off in the garment. 

Ard does most of the talking as they work. Tam interjects with excited comments on stories that he has clearly heard before as he begins to mash the potatoes that he’s peeled. Gracemary brings over a bowl of onions for Nura when he’s done with the carrots.

In all, he learns that all three of the occupants of the house were saved by an old woman who died some years ago. They were all abandoned in some way and left to die in the woods beyond the valley. But the old woman saw them in the lake with her magic and rescued them from their fates, though not in time to save Gracemary’s eyes that had been gouged out by a wicked mother who deemed them cursed for their beauty wasted on a bastard child. This the old woman saw in the water. Both Chetan and Ard are without memories or information about their histories but that is all very well because the old woman became their mother and the others, their siblings and obviously more in Chetan and Ard’s case. They live now in the valley that has only one exit. He is careful not to reveal the location of the exit, saying only that Gracemary will show them the way when the time comes.

Gracemary brings them tea as they talk and work but says nothing. The tea is bitter but hot and filled with magic that relaxes Nura’s muscles.

Chetan returns with two skinned hares that Gracemary turns into a stew with their vegetables. They eat together as the sun sets and talk and laugh by candle light as Chetan plays a high flute-type instrument. 

And so the days roll by. When he is able, Nura helps Ard in the garden tending the beds, pulling out weeds and notifying Ard of any sections that look sick. When he is even more able, he helps Tam gather and chop woods for the fire. He considers escaping and looking for the exit but there are no paths in the woods and no indications that an exit might be near, so he stays. He ignores the part of his mind that enjoys this quite piece of life in the middle of nowhere with no real expectations other than the completion of simple tasks. 

He offers one day to help check the traps and hunt, but Chetan just scowls at him. “I’m better off alone,” he says. Which is not true, Nura thinks, because he remembers the sounds like fighting from upstairs some nights, when Tam relished in explaining it was not a battle but rather sex that was taking place over their heads.

“You can leave in the morning,” Gracemary says suddenly after two weeks.

Nura and Tam both blink at her, apparently disbelieving. Tam is the first to actually react.

“Awesome! I bet Syl’ll be so surprised to see me,” he says grinning.

A part of Nura is disappointed to be leaving, but he beats that thought away because he has responsibilities to attend to and people that are waiting for him. 

Ard lets out a great big sniff and rubs his eyes. “I’m going to miss you. It was a lot easier with two extra hands.”

And for the first time Gracemary smiles, not at them but her brother’s display. It is a small smile but Nura feels like it is a gift for completing his time in this lost place.

Gracemary brings out a bottle of liquor from the cellar. It is in a thick brown bottle and pours the same. They each get a glass full. Nura screws up his face at the taste. It burns with its strength and goes down slowly with its thickness, but there is a sweet after taste like a parent that comforts their child after a harsh whipping. Tam downs his glass before Nura can swallow his third sip. 

Chetan plays tonight as well but they dance this time. Or at least Gracemary and Tam dance while Ard taps his foot in time, sitting close to his lover. Gracemany is beautiful and lithe and graceful in her movements like a fae from a different world. She dips and spins and allows Tam to dip and spin her. Tam on the other hand is vulgar and a bit clumsy, but he’s having fun. Nura’s face feels hot as he watches them but he has been drinking so it was bound to happen. Tam pulls Gracemary close and she lets him and they sway together and Nura gets up and goes to his bed.

It takes about an hour as Nura lays on his bed for the music to stop. He keeps seeing Tam and Gracemary, bodies close, in his mind’s eye. It was envy in him. Envy not of Tam but of Gracemary. Something he wants. He can feel his body stir. He curses the strange alcohol for giving him strange thoughts.

The door creaks open and Tam slips in with light from the fire. 

“You left early,” Tam says quietly.

Nura pretends to be asleep and doesn’t answer but Tam doesn’t seem to be fooled. He moves over to Nura’s bed instead of his own and sits on the edge. 

“Hey Nura.”

Nura ignores him again, hoping he would go away.

“Nura,” Tam says in a sing-song voice.

“What?” Nura is gruff but it doesn’t seem to put Tam off.

“I was wondering, if you wanted to have sex with me.”

Nura stiffens. There was a pause as Tam climbs boldly onto the bed.

“I was just thinking,” Tam says, “It’s the last day we’re going to be basically neutral and I’ve kind of always thought about it, what it would be like with you, so this seems like the best chance, don’t you think?”

Nura is at a loss for words. His mouth feels dry and his body is anything but calm in the darkness. Then Tam kisses him, soft lips against his own. Nura’s sword hand lashes out grabbing onto Tam’s arm, tight enough that it will probably bruise later, but Tam doesn’t stop, not for a while. He moves his lips against Nura’s darting his tongue out, hot as it passes over Nura’s lips. 

Tam breaks the kiss for a moment. “Do you want me to stop?” 

Nura doesn’t know what to do. He can handle the battlefield. He can send his sword through an opponent’s eye without a twitch. But he can’t answer Tam in this moment. 

Tam chuckles lightly. “Sorry. I just, I don’t know what I thought.” 

He’s giving up, ready to leave, but Nura can’t bring himself to let go either. He forces himself to loosen his grip but he can’t let go. Tam doesn’t pull away with force; he waits. He waits until Nura can get the words out of his mouth. 

“Don’t go.” He knows that in the future he will blame this on that stinking strong alcoholic slime, even though he couldn’t even finish half his glass. But he doesn’t recant. 

“Ok” is all Tam says before he kisses Nura again. It’s less experimental and hungrier. Nura stifles a moan as Tam moves on top of him, his thigh rubbing the hardness between Nura’s legs.

Tam lets out a low noise of surprise and awe. “Were you already thinking about me then? I’m flattered.”

“Shut up,” Nura’s words are practically a growl as he rolls them over on the small bed. Tam aids him and shifts underneath his weight and fitting their legs together. Nura can’t help grinding down on Tam’s thigh, another moan escaping his lips to be caught between Tam’s. Nura pins Tam’s arms to the side of his head and they rut against each other, both of them hard together, kissing sloppily and greedily. 

“Nura.” 

The half-moan sounds good on Tam’s lips and Nura kisses them hard as if to capture it.

“Nura, wait. Please.”

Reluctantly, Nura pulls back slightly. He can just make out Tam lick his lips in the moonlight of their small window. 

“I want to feel you inside me,” Tam says.

Nura swallows.

“I—wait.” Tam slips out from Nura’s loosened grip and throws his hand out to feel along the table between their beds. “I got this from Ard,” he says pushing a vial into Nura’s hand. “They use it when they—well you’ve heard them.”

Nura manages a nod and uncorks the vial. The liquid is slippery between his fingers.

“Oh,” Tam says remembering something. He pulls at Nura’s trousers. “We should get rid of these.”

Nura can barely breathe out his assent before he’s discarded his clothing. The air is cool on his skin. Tam’s clothing follows his own to the floor. Nura takes a moment to run his hand over Tam’s body. He’s toned but soft. His hand rubs its way up from Tam’s stomach. He brushes a thumb over his nipple then squeezes. This earns him a wriggle as Tam’s legs fall open before him. His hand explores more, trailing back down until it comes to wrap around Tam’s cock. Tam thrusts up into his hand, Nura’s name accompanying it. His voice is desperate and breathy. Nura’s own cock twitches in excitement. 

He can admonish his own wantonness later he decides. Instead he dashes out a generous portion of the liquid onto his hand and slicks himself up. He presses two coated fingers to Tam’s entrance. They slide in easily aided by whatever concoction he has been given. Tam lets out a guttural moan and pushes against the digits inside him. He cries out loudly as Nura curls his fingers inward. Nura thinks he should probably be embarrassed but he can’t manage it in the want-want-want that is going through his head. He presses his fingers up once more and Tam bucks with him, calling out his name. Nura fingers him some more, enjoying the want in Tam’s every movement as his own cock waits slick and dripping with anticipation.

Tam gets fed up first. He whines Nura’s name, begging him to hurry up. “I want you in me. Now.”

Nura nods, unsure whether Tam can see him in the darkness. He removes his fingers and lifts Tam’s hips, pressing his head against Tam’s entrance. He hears a gasp from Tam as he pushes in slowly, holding on to Tam’s hips for leverage. He grits his teeth as he sinks all the way in. Tam is hot and tight around him. His fingers dig into Tam’s flesh and he struggles to control himself. The only sound is their breathing, heavy panting. 

Tam moves first, lifting his hips up and down as much as he can. Nura takes the cue and begins slowly, pulling out and pressing in as deep as he can. He loves the sound on contentment that come from Tam. 

“You’re not going to break me, you know?” Tam says encouragingly. 

Nura lets out a chuckle but complies. As his thrusts increase in pace so does the creaking of the bed and so do Tam’s moans. Tam meets his movements. Both of them in sync and in need. Nura’s head is filled with the pressure of pleasure and he can barely feel anything else outside of the tightness around him, welcoming him each time he delves in, threatening to squeeze him dry. He vaguely registers Tam bring his hand to his own cock. He’s focused on Tam, enveloping him until he’s ready and he can’t take anymore and he buries himself inside once more with a deep, satisfied moan.

He drops to Tam’s side. Tam rolls to face him and gives him a sweaty kiss as he gets himself off. Nura gives him a helping hand. They kiss breathily, Tam gasping as their hands slide together, until Tam is coming all over their hands and bodies and the sheets. Their sweating foreheads are pressed together as they both catch their breath. 

Tam seems somewhat hesitant as he inches his body closer to Nura. When Nura doesn’t move, he presses them flush together, in all their sticky glory. 

“Thank you,” Tam says, tiredness evident in his voice. 

Nura grunts in response, for lack of better words, but Tam doesn’t seem to mind. He just rolls over and presses his back into Nura’s chest. Nura thinks about moving to the other bed. But he’s tired as well, all that desire took a lot out of him, so instead he reaches an arm around Tam to pull him closer.

After all, they were still neutral just for tonight.


End file.
